Directional Ultrasound Source for Solid Materials Inspection: Diffraction Management in a Metallic Phononic Crystal

In this work, we numerically investigate the diffraction management of longitudinal elastic waves propagating in a two-dimensional metallic phononic crystal. We demonstrate that this structure acts as an "ultrasonic lens", providing self-collimation or focusing effect at a certain distance from the crystal output. We implement this directional propagation in the design of a coupling device capable to control the directivity or focusing of ultrasonic waves propagation inside a target object. These effects are robust over a broad frequency band and are preserved in the propagation through a coupling gel between the "ultrasonic lens" and the solid target. These results may find interesting industrial and medical applications, where the localization of the ultrasonic waves may be required at certain positions embedded in the object under study. An application example for non-destructive testing with improved results, after using the ultrasonic lens, is discussed as a proof of concept for the novelty and applicability of our numerical simulation study.